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SIDNEY RIGDON
AMONG THE BAPTISTS HIS EARLY YEARS IN AND AROUND PITTSBURGH Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 |
 Early 19th cent. Pittsburgh Baptist church |
1813-53 History of Baptists | 1860 Annals Am. Pulpit VI | 1881 Baptist Encyclopedia
1889 Hist. of Allegheny Co. | 1898 Std. Hist. of Pittsburgh | 1904 Hist. of Beaver Co.
1907 3 Important Movements | 1913 History of Uniontown | 1922 History of Pittsburgh
1922 Hist. Baptists | 1939 Annals SW Penn. | 1981 Rollmann | text files | Rigdon in OH
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General History of the Baptist Denomination by David Benedict Boston: Lincoln & Edmands, 1813 |
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Annals of the American Pulpit VI by William B. Sprague NYC: Robert Carter & Bros., 1860 |
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[ xi ]
The history of the Baptist denomination in the United States, like that of the other denominations, is so fully developed in the lives of its prominent ministers, that it is impossible to construct even the most general outline of the former without drawing upon material that must necessarily be embodied in the latter. The present brief sketch is framed with a view to prevent, as far as possible, repetition in the body of the work. When the first Baptists came to this country, or who they were, it is impossible now to ascertain; though Cotton Mather says "mant of the first settlers in Massachusetts were Baptist;" and he adds that "they were as holy, and watchful, and fruitful, and heavenly a people as perhaps any in the world."... [ xiv ] ... The "Great Awakening" which took place in connection with the labours of Whitefield, about the year 1740, gave rise to many new churches in different parts of New England, under the name of separate Churches. These were formed by a secession from the regular Congregational Body, and their members claimed to hold as purer faith, as well as adopt a higher [ xv ] standard of Christian feeling and action, than those with whom they had previously been associated. Some of them fell into great extravagances of both doctrine and practice, but there is reason to believe that, notwithstanding the fanatical tendences with which they may have been chargeable, that they were generally sincere and devout Christians.... It is not strange, considering the peculiar circumstances in which the Baptists were placed before and even since the Revolution, that their numerical increase should have been slow; but since civil impediments have been removed, and the principle of universal toleration has come to be everywhere practically acknowledged, they have increased with a rapidity almost unparalleled; so that with a single exception, they now form the largest denomination in the United States. They are spread through every state and Territory... The Baptists, as a denomination, have always attached little importance to human learning as a qualification for the ministry, in comparison with those higher, though not miraculous, spiritual gifts, which they believe it is the province of the Holy Ghost to impart; and some of them, it must be acknowledged, have gone to the extreme of looking upon high intellectual [ xiv ] in a minister as rather a hindrance than a help to the success of his labours. But, if I mistake not, many of the sketches contained in this volume will show that the Baptists have had less credit as the friends and patrons of learning than they have deserved.... The Government of the Baptist Churches is strictly independent. Each separate church claims and exercises the right of granting license to preach the Gospel, and of ordaining Elders or Presbyters to the full work of the ministry.... The prevailing Theology of the Baptists is Calvinism -- generally of the type of Andrew Fuller, but occasionally rising to that of Dr. Gill. The Philadelphia Confession, -- so called from its having been adopted by the [ xvii ] Philadelphia Association, -- the oldest Association in the country, and which agrees substantially with the Westminster, except on questions of Church constitution and Church order, has generally been regarded ny the Baptists, especially in former years, as a faithful expression of their denominational belief.... While the Philadelphia Confession is objected to by some as too severely Calvinistic, the New Hampshire [Declaration] is objected to by others as at least too indefinite. Nearly all the Baptist churches in this country adopt the principle of Strict Communion, so far as regards the ordinance of the Lord's Supper; while, in other respects, they mingle with their brethren of other denominations.... [ 400 ]
JOSHUA BRADLEY. [ 401 ] Academy of the Rev. William Williams, at Wrentham, in 1795, and two years after became a member of the Junior class in Brown University.... [he] graduated on the 4th of September, 1799. The theme of Bradley's Oration was "The impossibility of exterminating Christianity from the earth." He says "The clergy seemed pleased, and I was invited to visit some of the," Immediately after his graduation, he was licensed to preach by the church in his native town. For six months, he divided his time, as a supply, between the Baptist Church in Attleborough, Mass., and a new Society in Pawtucket, R. I. -- the latter, encouraged by the attendance on his ministrations, erected their first meeting-house, which was soon filled. Having completed this engagement, he travelled some weeks in New Hampshire and Maine... he finally accepted an invitation... of the Second Baptist Church at Newport, R. I. He was ordained on the 18th of May, 1801... In 1807, finding himself wearied out by his manifold labours, he resigned his charge, and removed to Mansfield, Conn.... The Baptist Church in Middletown now earnestly requested his services... In 1809, by the solicitation of various persons, especially of some young men who were candidates for the ministry, he opened an Academy in Wallingford, Conn., and the next year a fine, commodious edifice was built, where he generally had about one hundred pupils from several different [ 402 ] States. While conducting this Academy, he preached in North Haven, where he formed a Baptist church, and also officiated Saturday evenings at New Haven, in Masonic Hall.... Several families, who had sat under Mr. Bradley's ministry at Newport, having removed to Windsor, Vt., sent an earnest request to him to come and preach to them. He accordingly removed thither, in October, 1818, and commenced preaching in the Court House. As this was soon overflowing, larger accomodations were called for, and a commodious brick church edifice was erected. Here he continued about four years, and was occupied at the same time in teaching a school on his own house, chiefly for those who were looking forward to the ministry. In 1817, he started for Ohio, with a view to establish a literary institution in that State, but circumstances prevented him from carrying out his purpose. The Baptist Church in Albany, which had been for some time in a divided state, invited him to become their Pastor... In November [1819], Mr. Bradley was induced to accept an invitation from Middlebury, N. Y., to take charge of a new Seminary, and also of a Baptist church in that village. A revival soon commenced, in connection with his labours, the influence of which was widely and benignly felt. He remained here until 1824, when, on account of Mrs. Bradley's infirm health, he resigned the place, both as teacher and preacher, and travelled, preaching as he had opportunity, in the Northwestern part of New York. In Ellisburgh, Jefferson County, he established a Seminary, -- obtaining an incorporation, and six thousand dollars for its endowment. Here also he was successful as a Pastor. While in the State of New York, he and his pupils was instrumental in establishing six new churches in as many years. In 1826, he was invited to visit Pittsburg, Pa.; and, finding the Baptist church there much distracted, he commenced a school for his support. He divided his labours on the Sabbath between Pittsburg and Alleghany City, and his influence in resuscitating the Baptist interest in that neighborhood soon became perceptible. His school was large, consisting of a hundred and sixty pupils; and a considerable revival of religion attended his ministry. In 1827, he was earnestly solicited by the Rev. John M. Peck to [ 403 ] go to Illinois, to take charge of a new Seminary at Rock Spring, -- which subsequently grew into Shurtleff College at Upper Alton. The fact that it was to be a Manual Labour Institution was the circumstance which especially attracted Mr. Bradley to it, and led him, without much hesitation, to consent to become its Principal. He reached St. Louis in June, 1827; and, as the Seminary buildings were not completed, he preached there and at Edwardsville, Ill., during the summer; and a large number were gathered into the church through his instrumentality. In the autumn, Rock Spring Seminary was opened; and within one year it numbered a hundred and thirty pupils. To secure the better medical aid for his wife, he left the Institution, after having been connected with it about a year, and fixed himself for a season in Louisville, Ky., where he preached, and taught a Young Ladies' School. In 1829, he removed to Middletown, O., where he [ 404 ] soon had several hundred pupils under his care. The next year, he attended the Baptist Convention in Lebanon, and awakened an interest in behalf of education, which resulted in the establishment of Granville College, -- for the endowment of which he subsequently obtained about two thousand dollars. In visiting Indiana, where there wwere about three hundred Baptist churches, and no Seminary, he was invited to become Principal of a Seminary in Connersville, the capital town of Fayette County. He opened the Institution on the 4th of October, 1830... He then returned to Pittsburg, and again engaged there both in teaching and preaching. In 1835, he delivered an Address on Education before the Monongahela Association, which resulted in a partially successful effort to establish and endow a literary institution for Western Pennsylvania and Western Virginia. Such a College was finally established by him in Harrison County, Va., since called Rector College, of which, at the instance of Mr. Bradley, the Rev. Charles Wheeler * became President. During his agency for this College, he secured the purchase of a valuable site, and buildings for a Female College at Bottetourt Springs, Va., in May 1843... [he died Nov. 22, 1855] __________ * Charles Wheeler a son of Samuel and Catherine (Adams) Wheeler, was born at Rowley, Mass., on the 8th of April, 1784. His father was graduated at Harvard College in 1771, and was licensed to preach in the Congregational Church. He (the son) became hopefully pious, about the year 1801, and joined the Congregational church in his native place, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Bramin; and he began to prepare for College under his instruction. While he was prosecuting his studies, he embraced the views of the Baptists, and transferred his relation to a neighboring church of that communion. In due time he became a member of Brown University, and graduated in 1807. After leaving College, he was employed for some time in teaching school, first in Wiscasset, Me.; afterwards in Salem, Mass.; and subsequently in Middleborough, where he was licensed to preach. In 1812, he supplied, for several months, the First Baptist Church in Boston. His mother having, about this time, removed to Pennsylvania, induced him to follow her; though he seems to have consented very reluctantly. He left Boston for Pittsburg, in June, 1813; having been married., in March preceeding, to a daughter of the Rev. Samuel Nelson, of Middleborough; and shortly after opened a school in Washington, twenty-five miles west of Pittsburg, and at the same time commenced preaching to a large congregation in the Court House. In October, 1814, he was ordained, and a church constituted in Washington, of which he became the Pastor. Here he continued for twenty-six years, preaching not only to his own church, but frequently to several other churches in the neighborhood. Meanwhile he also continued his connection with the school. In 1839, he was chosen President of Rector College, and about the same time visited New England to solicit aid in its behalf. He removed his family to Pruntytown, the seat of the College, in 1840, and exerted himself to the utmost to bring forward the infant institution. In his devotion to this object he overtasked both his physical and intellectual energies, and brought on a hemorrhage of the lungs, and subsequently an enlargement of the heart, which terminated in death, on the 11th of January, 1851. He was an accomplished scholar, an excellent teacher, and an able, earnest and successful minister. Note 1: Some additional information on Elder Bradley's first tenure in Pittsburgh is provided in the Oct. 2, 1826 issue of Alexander Campbell's Christian Baptist, where Campbell tells of his recent attendance of the annual Redstone Baptist Association meeting: "An Elder Bradley from New England had come as a messenger from Pittsburg. He, good man, said all that a stranger could say, to shame the triumvirate and to lead them to repentance; but he might as well have spit in the face of a strong north-west wind. He was officially told that he "occupied too much ground," and must hold his tongue. His zeal in behalf of moderation so far provoked the reigning dynasty, that his faith and that of his church became towards evening heterodox. The Cardinal of the Left [i.e. Elder Lawrence Greatrake] observed as I am informed, that he had left the church sound in the faith a few months ago, over which Mr. Bradley now presided, but that he verily believed that he (Bradley) had become Arminian or Antinomian, or some other anti, and had corrupted them. Whereupon it was moved and seconded, that Mr. Bradley should be indicted for heterodoxy, and a committee was appointed, with his accuser as chairman to take him out to a stump not far from the meeting-house, and try him forthwith. The good little Yankee had so much presence of mind and fortitude as to refuse to be tried by his accuser, and appealed from their jurisdiction to a higher court. He was then committed to prison, or embargoed, and a committee was appointed to pursue him to Pittsburg in due time, to try him upon the indictment." All of which was Campbell's way of saying that Elder Bradley was a fellow Arminian, among the hyper-Calvinists who generally represented the Redstone Association churches during this period. Note 2: In his 1865 volume of Annals of the American Pulpit, William B. Sprague provides a biographical sketch for the Rev. John S. Maginnis on pp. 766-767, saying of Maginnis: "His first employment was that of an instructor; and in 1827 he was associated at Pittsburg, in his novitiate, with the Rev. Joshua Bradley, one of the most versatile and indefatigable of our labourers in that generation." Probably Maginnis continued Elder Bradley's school in Pittsburgh when the Elder departed for Illinois to work there with John M. Peck. Peck visited the Pittsburgh area in the summer of 1826 and probably made his employment offer to Elder Bradley at that time; on page 214 of his 1864 Memoirs, that volume's editor says of Elder Peck: "In Washington, Pa., he mentions an interesting interview which he had with Rev. Charles Wheeler, pastor of the Baptist church in that place (subsequently President of Rector College, Western Virginia), who gave him a pretty clear idea of the continued difficulties in the Redstone Baptist Association, where there was a hyper-Calvinistic party, very rigid and bigoted, and where Alexander Campbell was more and more manifesting his opposition to the above party and their shibboleth, while still a third and more numerous portion of that body maintained a middle ground." No doubt Wheeler was one of the Redstone pastors then trying to remain grounded in that "middle" position, but Bradley seems to have sensed that he was too liberal in his theology to remain in Pittsburgh much longer. According to William R. Pankey's 1939 History of Churches of Pittsburgh Baptist Assocociation, on p. 6, during 1826-27 Joshua Bradley also supplied the pulpit recently vacated by Elder David Phillips at Peter's Creek. In these ministerial efforts Bradley no doubt helped lay the groundwork for the organization of the less rigidly Calvinistic Washington Baptist Association, which came together in the spring of 1827. Note 3: Elder Joshua Bradley still resided in Pittsburgh as late as Apr. 30, 1827, when he wrote a letter from that place, (published in the Montpelior Vermont Watchman of May 22, 1827), in which he said: "This land is covered with darkness, and filled with crimes -- yet the Lord is gracious to some souls. -- About 25 have been added to the first Baptist Church since I came here last May." By May 19, 1827, Elder Bradley was in Louisville, Kentucky (probably on his way west to Rock Spring, Illinois) where he announced a preaching service for the following day, to be held at "the Baptists new Meeting House," (see the Louisville Public Advertiser for May 19th). Note 4: Elder Charles Wheeler's involvement with events surrounding the 1824 ousting of Sidney Rigdon from the Pittsburgh pastorate, may be surmised from his letter of July 18, 1823, his participation in the Redstone Association committee of Oct.-Nov. 1823, and his presence at the June 13, 1824 ordination of Lawrence Greatrake (Rigdon's successor) at Pittsburgh. |
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The Baptist Encyclopedia by William Cathcart Philadelphia: Louis E. Everts, 1881 |
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[ 154 ] Brownfield, Rev. William, was born in 1773 and in earlv life was converted and called into the ministry. He was pastor of the churches at Smithfield and Uniontown, Pa., where his labors were chietly expended, and was instrumental in organizing a church in Stewartstown. Following the apostolic example of many of our fathers in the ministry, he traveled extensively, and preached wherever he went. Several counties of Pennsylvania, and parts of West Virginia and Ohio, heard from him the Messed gospel. He was a sound divine, an able preacher, and a fearless advocate of the truth. His efforts were extensively blessed. He died Jan. 15, 1859, after being a preacher sixty-five years. [ 335-36 ] Disciples of Christ, The, or Christians, or Campbellites," as they are sometimes improperly called, are a religious community existing in Europe to a very limited extent, with a numerous membership on this side of the Atlantic. Thomas and Alexander Campbell, father and son, Scotch-Irishmen by birth, connected originally with the Presbyterian church founded by the pious Erskines, in 1810 gathered a congregation at Brush Run, Pa., " which was designed from its very inception to put an end to all partisan controversies, and. far from narrowing the basis of Christian fel lowship, to furnish abundant room for all believers upon the broad ground of the Bible, and a common religion upon the merits of Christ. In 1812 the congregation of Brush Run and the two ministering brethren were baptized by Elder Luse of the Baptist denomination, "upon the simple profession of faith made by the Ethiopian eunuch." In 1813 this body was received into the Redstone Baptist Association on the condition that "no terms of union or communion other than the Holy Scriptures should be required." After a connection with the Redstone Association of nearly ten years, rendered unpleasant by growing difficulties. Alexander Campbell was one of about thirty members who received dismission from the church at Brush Run to constitute a church at Wellsburg, Va. The new community was admitted into the Mahoning Baptist Association of Ohio. Nearly the whole Association by degrees adopted the views of Mr. Campbell. These sentiments became obnoxious to many neighboring Baptist churches, so that the Beaver Association (of Pennsylvania) was induced to denounce them as heretical, and exclude from their fellowship all those churches which favored the views of Mr. Campbell and his friends. The rent in the denomination was made wider, and the Disciples stood before the world as an independent community, differing from the Baptists chiefly about their "rejection of creeds, and baptism for remission of sins." The year 1825 was the time when the Mahoning Association adopted the doctrines advocated by Mr. Campbell, and as a consequence that year is commonly regarded as the commencement of the distinct denominational life of the Disciples. The object of the movement of which Thomas and Alexander Campbell were the leaders, according to Prof. R. Richardson, of Virginia, was i; to disinter the edifice of ancient Christianity from the rubbish which so many ages had accumulated upon it; and the beauty of those portions which were first exposed, only induced greater exertions to bring others into view. It was the unity of the church which first struck the attention; the subsequent submission to immersion is only one example among others of that progression which consistency with their own principles required. Thus, it was not until ten years after this that the utimate object of baptism was fully understood, when it was recognized as the remittiing of [sins ---- -----] of the gospel, or the appointed means through which the penitent sinner obtained an assurance of that pardon, or remission, procured for him by the suffering and death of Christ. Nor was it until a still later period that this doctrine was [actually] applied, in calling upon believing penitents to be baptized for the purpose specified. This view of baptism gave great importance to the institution, and has become one of the prominent features of this reformation/ (Religious Denominations of the United States, p. 22, Philadelphia, 1879.) They discard all human creeds and confessions, taking the Bible as their only religious authority; they regard all other denominations as imperfect, and claim that they have restored New Testament order in all things. They look upon the divisions of Christians as essentially wrong, and advocate the union of all believers on their platform. They insist on using Bible terms for Scriptural subjects, and therefore reject the words Trinity, Triune, etc., (though) they receive everything which the Scripture affirms of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, giving to every expression its full and obvious meaning. They teach that when Christ is preached the hearers have ability to believe upon, and obey him; that baptism is immersion only, and should be administered to no one but a believer; that it precedes forgiveness and adoption; that the blood of Christ only cleanses from sin, but that God requires faith, repentance, and baptism [-------] on which, for Christ's sake, he forgives and adopts his children: or as many state it, "There are three steps necessary in salvation, faith, repentance, and baptism. They believe that conversion is a turning to the Lord, and that in the New Testament baptism is the outward act by which one who has faith and repentance manifests this great change. They be lieve that the Spirit operates on sinners through the Word of God, though some of them think that he acts directly on the guilty heart. They object to relations of Christian experience as prerequisites to baptism, requiring nothing more than the brief confession made by the eunuch before Philip immersed him. They administer the Supper every Lord's day, to a participation of which with them Pedobaptists are not invited, but from which they are not excluded. Their government is congregational; every church has elders to take charge of its spiritual affairs, and deacons to care for its temporal concerns. The official position of the preacher is not invested with quite as much authority as is accorded to it in other religious bodies, and the title of Rev. is never [given] him by his brethren. In other particulars the Disciples are in harmony with evangelical Christians. Their numbers in the United States are variously estimated at from 500.000 to 600,000. They have churches in almost every State and Territory of the Union, but they are most numerous in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio. They also have a few churches in the British American provinces, and in England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zaland, and Jamaica. They have a number of institutions of learning and several newspapers. They are an active and moral people, some of whom occupy distinguished positions in the United States. Judge Jeremiah Black, of Pennsylvania, Gov. Bishop, of Ohio, and President-elect Garfield are citizens that reflect honor on the Disciples of Christ. The editor places this sketch in the Encyclopaedia because the Disciples of Christ are a considerable section of the great and growing immersion family. He has been at some pains to secure a fair representation of their opinions and practices. And he would add, that in common with his brethren, he dissents from all the peculiar opinions of Mr. Campbell and the special features of his reformation. [ 379 ] Errett, Hon. Russell, was born in New York in 1817, and removed to Pennsylvania in 1829. He is by profession an editor, and has held various public offices. In 1800 lie was elected comptroller of Pittsburgh; he was clerk of the Pennsylvania senate for three different sessions; was appointed paymaster in the U. S. army in 186l, and served until mustered out in 1866. He was elected to the State senate of Pennsylvania in 1867; he was appointed assessor of internal revenue in 1869, serving until 1873. He was three times elected from the 22d district of the State as their Representative in Congress, in which capacity he is now doing good service. Russell Errett was baptized in Pittsburgh, and held his first membership in the church of the Disciples, but coming to Mansfield, Alleghany County, he, together with his wife, united with the newly-formed regular Baptist church, and has found here a suitable home. His brother Isaac is editor of the Christian Standard, Cincinnati. O., and was baptized at the same time. Mr. Errett is a conscientious Christian, a Representative of distinguished ability, and a public man of great purity of life. [ 380 ] Estep, Rev. James. For more than half a century this distinguished minister labored in Western Pennsylvania. Few men ever attained greater eminence as a clear thinker, a sound theologian, and an earnest preacher. He was born in Washington Co., Pa., Oct. 9. 1782. He died July 26, 1861. He was baptized into the fellowship of the Mount Moriah Baptist church in April, 1802, and by this church he was licensed to preach two years after his baptism. For eighteen months prior to his entering the ministry he was pursuing the study of medicine, but a sermon preached by the Rev. Morgan J. Rhees, then prothonotary of Somerset Co., Pa., led him to deep reflection as to personal duty, and in twenty days after he was found preaching. Long before he thought of entering the ministry he gave himself to reading works on divinity. In fact, from the first day of his conversion he was engaged in reading, meditation, and prayer. He was a warm friend of an educated ministry, and one of the most useful of Pennsylvania Baptist ministers. His life was spent in an eventful period. In his day, and in his immediate neighborhood, the Campbellites, or to use their own distinctive term, the Disciples, and the Cumberland Presbyterians came into existence. The church required just such a man, and infinite wisdom provided for the hour of need in raising up James Estep. Though years have rolled away since his death, no name is more frequently on the lips of surviving brethren than his. He honored God by a noble life, and he has honored his very memory to the present hour. [ 661 ] Kirk, Rev. A. G., is of Scotch origin on his father's side, and of English on his mother's. He was born in Lancaster Co., Pa., Nov. 14, 1809, of Quaker parentage. His great-grandfather, Benjamin Gilbert, and his family, were taken prisoners by the Indians in April, 1780, and suffered a miserable captivity, passing their days in constant terror of being killed, but, in the language of the chief, Rowland Mintour, "The Great Spirit would not let us kill you." The son remained with his father's family until his marriage, in 1833. and in the subsequent year removed into Ohio, and engaged in teaching until 1845. On Jan. 15, 1843, he was baptized, and made his first public speech to a large assembly, partly composed of his scholars and of skeptical friends attracted to the solemn scene. He was ordained Jan. 12, 1845, at Salem, Columbiana Co., O. He was the first resident pastor of the church in New Castle, Lawrence Co., Pa., and the first pastor of the Nixon Street church, Alleghany City, Pa. At New Castle he enjoyed a prosperous ministry of eleven years. In Alleghany City and other churches lie was highly favored. His entire ministry has been richly blessed. In labors he has been abundant, having preached during thirty-three years about 5000 sermons, and during the entire period losing only eight Sabbaths by any indisposition of the body. He is still in service. [ 1043-44 ] Shadrach, Wm., D.D. This name is a household word among the Baptists of Pennsylvania. If fidelity to truth, earnest convictions, impassioned eloquence, and active zeal through half a century entitle a clergyman to peculiar prominence among his brethren, such prominence must be awarded this veteran minister. Dr. Shadrach is a fine specimen of the Welsh people, of whom there have been not a few highly distinguished ministers in the State of Pennsylvania. He was born in Swansea, Glamorganshire, South Wales, Dec. 4, 1804. and came to America, landing at Pictou, Nova Scotia, when fifteen years of age. After spending some time in Baltimore!, Md., he removed to Pennsylvania, and on the 22d of May, 1825, was baptized into the fellowship of the Two Lick Baptist church, Indiana Co., by Rev. Thomas K. Thomas. He received ordination Dec. 10, 1828, and became pastor of the Mount Pleasant Baptist church, Westmoreland Co. From this date to 1837 he served with much acceptance and signal success the churches of Mount Pleasant, Loyalhannah, Peters Creek, and Alleghany City. In 1837 he settled with the New Market Street church (now Fourth) in Philadelphia. After a service of more than three years he accepted the agency of the Pennsylvania Baptist State Convention (now the General Association), and labored with great success for three years. After a brief connection with the Grant Street church in Pittsburgh, he was called in 1844 to the Fifth Baptist church, Philadelphia, where he remained until 1847, resigning in order to devote himself to the work of assisting to found the university at Lewisburg. For six years he devoted himself with untiring energy and eminent success to this great undertaking. In 1853 he was chosen corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society, and continued in this service until July, 1860. In that year he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Madison University. In 1840, and also in 1841 and 1846, he was elected moderator of the Philadelphia Baptist Association. From 1860 to the present date Dr. Shadrach has led an active life as a pastor of several important churches, giving also portions of his time to the interests of the denomination at large in labor for the Publication Society and the university. In a serene old age he is still honored as the devoted pastor of the church in the county-town of Indiana, Pa. Long may the shades of night be deferred! [ 1124 ] Swaim, Thomas, D.D., was born at Pemberton, N. J. March 30, 18??, entered Brown University, but graduated from Madison University in 1844, and from Hamilton Theological Seminary in 1846; was ordained in November, 1846, and settled with the church at Washington. Pa. After four years of successful labor he accepted the agency of the American Baptist Missionary Union for six months. at the end of which service he became pastor at Klemington, N. J., where he remained for sixteen years. During this pastorate nearly 300 were baptised, and a riewand larger meeting-house was built. In 1867 he accepted the financial secretaryship of the New Jersey Classical and Scientific Institute at Hightstown. In 1868 he became district secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, with headquarters at Philadelphia, which position he now holds. The degree of D. D, was conferred, in 1865. by the university at Lewisburg. Dr. Swaim is an able preacher of the New Testament, and strong in his defense of Bible doctrines as held by the denomination. To the work in which he is now engaged he gives his undivided energies, and zealously labors to secure for the society the largest share of the sympathies and contributions of the churches. [ 1254 ] Williams, Rev. Samuel, was born in Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa., on the 5th of August, 1802. At the age of twenty, while a student at Zanesville, O., he embraced Christ by faith. Along with light upon his heart came the love of souls, and in two years from his conversion he was ordained in Somerset Co., Pa. In May, 1827, he became pastor of the First Baptist church in Pittsburgh, Pa. This relation continued twenty-eight years, during which period six other churches were organized. Leaving Pittsburgh, he settled in Akron, O. Here he remained eight years, and then became pastor in Springfield. At both these places he, in connection with his wife, conducted a female seminary. Two subsequent years were spent as pastor in New Castle, Pa., and five years more were employed among churches in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. His present residence is Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Williams engaged in numerous controversies, both orally and in writing, in defense of Baptist doctrine and practice. [ 1262 ] Winter, John, M.D., was born in Wellington, England, in July, 1794. After graduating in theology from Bradford Seminary, he emigrated to America in 1822, and settled in Pittsburgh, Pa. Here for some time he taught a school, and served as pastor of the First Baptist church. During sixty years of a very active and successful ministry his labors were chiefly in the western part of the State. For a few years he preached in Illinois, where two sons survive him. He died Nov. 5, 1878, in his eighty-fifth year, after an illness of only three days, in Sharon. Mercer Co.. Pa. His energy was more than ordinary, and his character was of a most positive type, blended with childlike simplicity and tenderness of heart. His clearness of thought was remarkable. These traits made him just the man needed for his day. Hence, in his struggles with the errors of Alexander Campbell, he performed pre-eminent service, and checked materially the spread of error, saving many churches from being overwhelmed and destroyed. His crowning glory was his great success in winning souls to Christ. To the last of an honored and useful life he would not allow his mind to remain inactive, but kept himself well informed in general and theological learning. Hence he was always listened to with marked interest, and continued fresh and green until he closed his earthly labors. Dr. Winter was twice married. His second wife survives him, and is the mother of two prominent Baptist ministers, Rev. J. D. Herr, D.D., of New York, and Rev. A[doniram]. J. Bonsall, of Rochester, Pa. A daughter is also married to Rev. David Williams, of Lewisburg, Pa., while a daughter of Dr. Winter is united in marriage to Judge Justin Miller, of the Supreme Court of the United States. note 1: To the above listing should also be added the name of Rev. Adoniram. J. Bonsall. John W. Leonard's 1908 volume, Who's who in Pennsylvania, provides this information on pp. 82-83: "Bonsall, Adoniram Judson: Clergyman; born in Sharpsburg, Pa., Oct. 30, 1850; son of James Bonsall and Ann (Snively) Bonsall. He was educated at Allegheny Seminary, Sharpsburg... graduated from Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh. He married in Pittsburgh, May 12, 1874, Sophia Augusta Hoyer... He was pastor of the 37th Street Baptist Churchh; Pittsburgh; First Baptist Church, Rochester, Pa., and is now serving in the Sandusky Street Baptist Church, Pittsburgh..." Another entry, from p. 554 of the same volume, reads: "Stanton, William Alonzo: Clergyman; born Lawrenceville, Tioga County, Pa., March 5, 1854; son of Charles Alonzo Stanton and Helen J. (Nicholson) Stanton. He... was graduated from Rochester Theological Seminary... married in Scottsville, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1878, Sara L. Rogers... He was ordained minister of the First Baptist Church of Muncie, Ind., serving from 1878-1880; pastor of Vermont Street Baptist Church, Rickford, Ill., 1885-1890; pastor of Shady Avenue Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., since 1890.... He is author of... Three Important Movements, and of many published essays, sermons and historical essays. Residence: 6340 Marchand Street." |
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History of Allegheny County by Thomas Cushing Chicago: A. Warner & Co., 1889 |
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Standard History of Pittsburg by Erasmus Wilson Chicago: H. R. Cornell & Co., 1898 |
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922 HISTORY OF PITTSBURG. The Baptists were not represented in Pittsburg with an organization until 1812, at which date the first congregation of that denomination west of the mountains was established. They remained attached to the Monongahela Association until 1839, when the Pittsburg Association was formed. At the time this congregation was formed they withdrew from the Redstone Association, of which they had previously been a part. The first congregation consisted of six families, HISTORY OF PITTSBURG. 923 comprising a membership of about twelve. Rev. Edward Jones was the first pastor, and the first services were held in houses and later in halls, until finally the congregation was chartered in 1822. Sidney Rigdon was one of the charter members. He afterward attained fame by his connection with the Mormon Church. Mr. Rigdon was a printer by trade, and in some manner came into possession of Solomon Spaulding's work, "Manuscript Found," which afterward, it was claimed, became the new part of the Mormon Bible. Mr. Rigdon was pastor of this congregation from 1822 probably until 1827, at which time he was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Williams, who afterward became prominent as an active Anti-Masonic leader. Early map showing old (3rd Ave.) and new (4th Ave.) locations of 1st Baptist Church By 1843 this congregation had a membership of 314, and had dismissed several congregations. Their brick church was built in 1833 at Grant and Third streets. In 1841 the Grant Street Baptist Church was organized, in 1835 fifteen persons from the First Baptist Church of Pittsburg organized the First Baptist Church of Allegheny. In 1826 the Welsh Baptists effected an organization as a branch of the, First Baptist Church. note 1: In his 1825 pamphlet, Greatrake's Calumnies Repell'd, Elder Alexander Campbell provides a short list of the early pastors of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh: "This Regular Baptist Church has passed through singular fortunes. It has had six pastors: Messrs. [Edward] Jones and [Daniel?] Dodge were accused of drunkenness; Mr. [Samuel] Davis, of drunkenness, adultery, and lying; Mr. [Obediah] Newcomb, a godly man, of not having popularity enough to procure a brick meeting-house; [Sidney] Rigdon of heresy... as some would seem to think. Mr. [Lawrence] Greatrake has resigned already its pastoral care." note 2: The Rev. Francis Augustus Cox, along with his associate Dr. J. Hoby, in 1836 wrote The Baptists in America, in which Cox's 1835 visit to Pittsburgh was described, providing these details: "The population of Pittsburgh is about 18,000 and the places of worship are very numerous.... There are three baptist churches, the second holding public service in Welsh; and a new church has recently been formed at Alleghany. Mr. [Samuel] Williams, the pastor of the first church, was [away] from home: Mr. Davis, from Wales, was to have supplied his pulpit in part; and Mr. [Joshua] Bradley, the pastor of the third church, had engaged to preach a funeral sermon at Mr. Williams's in the afternoon... Mr. Tassey, the pastor of the independent church, showed me much friendly attention." (pp. 279-282). Joshua Bradley had returned to the city after a few years' absence -- he had previously served as the pastor of First Baptist. See Wm. A. Stanton's 1907 book for more on the Rev. John Tassey's congregation in Pittsburgh. note 3: The 1837 Harris Pittsburgh Business Directory lists James Estep and Samuel Williams as Baptist ministers in the city (pp. 46 & 88). Under the heading of "Baptist Churches," on p. 121, the same booklet gives this information: "First Regular Baptist Church, corner of Third and Grant streets. Rev. Samuel Williams pastor. Attached to the church is -- one Sabbath school -- one Adult Missionary society -- one Temperence society -- one Tract society. Second Regular Baptist Church, (Welsh,) Kensington. Rev. John Jenkins, pastor. One Regular Baptist Church, Alleghenytown. Rev. Wm. Shadrach, pastor..." Under the heading of "Morals, Religion, &c., for neighboring Somerset Co., the booklet gives this information on p. 194: "Lutheran is, perhaps, the prevailing religion, though there are large and respectable bodies of Presbyterians, Methodists, German Reformed, Disciples, Baptists, and several settlements of Omeish Quakers... Clergymen... J. Wesley Lanphear, Disciples." John Wesley Lanphear joined the Campbellites in 1834 and served them as a preacher in Somerset for several years, followed by ministry in New Lisbon and Youngstown, Ohio. note 4: The 1844 edition of Harris' Business Directory of the Cities of Pittsburgh Allegheny on p. 63 lists the following Baptist ministers in the Pittsburgh area: "The Welsh Baptist church, near Fourth Street Road, Rev. William Owens, Pastor.... First Baptist church, corner Third and Grant streets, members 353, Sabbath School scholars 150, Samuel Williams, Pastor, residence Riceville, Fourth Street Road. The Regular Baptist church, Allegheny city, situated on corner of Sandusky street and N. alley, members 162... Rev. N. G. Collins, Pastor... The Regular Baptist church, Grant near Sixth st., Rev. Mr. Shadrach, Pastor." On p. 62 the same booklet has this, under the heading of "Disciples' Churches": "Disciples church, Allegheny city, on bank of the river near lower bridge. Members 300, Sabbath School 60 to 70 scholars, John S. Strider and Samuel Church, Elders. Disciples church, in Pittsburgh, corner Smithfield and Virgin Alley, numbers 100, Sabbath School 30 to 40 scholars, Walter Scott, Pastor." The Disciples congregation in Pittsburgh was formed in about 1831 or 1832 from a few straggling members of Walter Scott's old Haldanean group, reinforced by the arrival in Pittsburgh of the late Henry Errett's family. |
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History of Beaver Co., Penn., Vols. I & II by Joseph H. Bausman NYC: The Knickerbocker Press, 1904 Rochester Church |
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A History of Uniontown
by James Hadden Akron: New Werner Co., 1913 William Brownfield |
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(entire contents copyright © 1922 Southern Baptist Convention
only limited, "fair use" excerpts are reproduced here)
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A History of the Baptists Vol. 2 by John T. Christian Nashville: Southern Baptist Conv., 1922 Daniel Parker |
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(entire contents copyright © 1922 Southern Baptist Convention
only limited, "fair use" excerpts are reproduced here)
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History of Pittsburgh and Environs Vol. II by George T. Fleming NYC: The American Historical Society, 1922 Sidney Rigdon Pittsburgh Church |
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(entire contents copyright © 1922 The American Historical Society
only limited, "fair use" excerpts are reproduced here)
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Annals of Southwestern Pennsylvania: II & III by Lewis C. Walkinshaw NYC: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1939 Sidney Rigdon Pittsburgh Church |
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(entire contents copyright © 1939 Lewis C. Walkinshaw
only limited, "fair use" excerpts are reproduced here)
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"Early Baptist Career of Sidney Rigdon" by Hans Rollmann BYU Studies Vol. 21, No. 1 (winter 1981) Copyright © 1981 Brigham Young University Press. All rights reserved. Fair use excerpts presented here. full text on-line |
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[ 37 ]
This new data, contained in the church record of the Baptist church in Warren, Ohio, cover his stay as a licensed -- and later as an ordained -- Baptist minister in Warren from 4 March 1820 __________ Hans Rollmann is an assistant professor of New Testament, Department of Religious Studies, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Rollmann has published widely in the area of nineteenth and twentieth century religious and intellectual history. Articles of his have appeared in Journal of the History of Ideas, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Religious Studies Review, and The Downside Review. 1 Historians of both religious groups have until now devoted little concentrated scholarly effort to the Disciple-Mormon encounter on the Western Reserve. The Disciple contribution is negligible. Only the following unpublished studies have come to my attention: Joseph Welles White, "The Influence of Sidney Rigdon upon the Theology of Mormonism" (M.A. thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1947); Leslie Howard Payne, "A Comparative Study of Mormon and Disciple Histories" (M.A. thesis, Butler University, Indianapolis, 1960), with a good historical sketch on pp. 108-25; Agnes M. Smith, "Mormonism on the Western Reserve (1830-1840)" (Seminar paper, Western Reserve University, 1960, located at Disciples of Christ Historical Society, Nashville -- hereafter cited as DCHS); Thomas Lee Scott, "Apostasy on the Western Reserve: Selected Disciples of Christ Experiences in the 1830's" (Paper delivered at Phillips University, Enid, Okla., 1978, DCHS), sketchy, neglects sources. --- An examination of local Disciple histories from the Western Reserve deposited at DCHS was disappointing in its lack of information regarding the early Disciple-Mormon interaction. The church histories of Austintown, Painesville, Mantua, Newton Falls, (New) Lisbon, Hiram, and Elyria rely mainly on Amos Sutton Hayden's Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio (Cincinnati: Chase and Hall, 1875). An exception to this rule is the recently published Mentor Christian Church Sesquicentennial Scrapbook (Mentor, Ohio: n.p. 1978) with valuable information on the early Disciple-Mormon encounter. Important, not for its sources but for its mature analysis, is the unpublished paper of Harold E. Davis, "Early Religion in Hiram" (Hiram, Ohio, 1939, DCHS). For histories of the Pittsburgh churches, see footnote 10. [ 38 ] to 5 January 1822. 2 On the basis of this information, more light can be shed upon the early career of Sidney Rigdon. The first biographical sketch of Sidney Rigdon -- ostensibly based on information provided by Elder Rigdon himself -- appeared in 1843 in a series of articles entitled the "History of Joseph Smith" in the Times and Seasons. 3 Here it is stated that after receiving his preaching license from the Regular Baptist in Pennsylvania in 1819, Sidney Rigdon moved to Trumbull County, Ohio, in May of 1819. He took up residence there in July with Adamson Bentley, an ordained Baptist minister, who with Sidney Rigdon became influential in the Baptist reform movement under the leadership of Alexander Campbell. In Warren, he met Phebe Brooks, formerly of Bridgetown, Cumberland County, New Jersey, whom he married on 12 June 1820. He preached in the district until November 1821, leaving Warren in February 1822 to take charge of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh. These are the lean data in the Times and Seasons regarding Sidney Rigdon's first ministerial occupation. In 1899 in a series on "The Life and Labors of Sidney Rigdon" in the Improvement Era, 4 Assistant Church Historian John Jacques follows the account of the Times and Seasons exactly without providing additional historical information on the Warren period. So also do all subsequent historians with the exception of Rigdon's son John Wycliffe, who lectured in the 1890s at Alfred University in upstate New York on the life of his father. 5 The lecture notes were __________ 2 Later, when the Baptist reformers under the leadership of Alexander Campbell separated from the Baptists proper, the church was called "Warren Central Christian Church." A microfilm copy of the church record is located at DCHS and is quoted here with permission of the Society. 3 Times and Seasons 4 (1 May 1843): 177-78. 4 The early period is treated in the Improvement Era 3 (December 1899): 97-109. 5 There is also a brief biographical sketch on Sidney Rigdon in The History of Friendship (Friendship, N. Y.: Friendship Sesquicentennial Corporation, 1965), pp. 53-54, which reports some interesting -- yet legendary -- details regarding Rigdon and his relatives in Friendship, hitherto not made available to a larger reading audience. (This history was edited by Arlene Hess, a friend of Josephine [Jessie] Rigdon, the last surviving grandchild of Sidney Rigdon.) According to The History of Friendship: "One of his (Rigdon's) sons-in-law, George Robinson was the founder and first president of First National Bank. Many stories were told about Robinson and his fear of someone on the corner of Main and East Water Street -- the Hatch House -- has bars on the lower windows. There have been stories that Mr. Robinson might have bettered his financial state with the aid of purloined Mormon money and feared reprisal. --- After Rigdon's death representatives of the Mormons requested a grandson, Edward Hatch, permission to inspect papers left by Rigdon for a clue to a secret which he had said he might reveal but never did. The request was refused. Some believe that Rigdon had intended to reveal his connection with the Spaulding book. A son, John Rigdon, was asked by Mormon officials to come to Salt Lake City and write an account of his father's connection with the Mormon religion. There is no record that he did so. --- Sidney Rigdon was one of the charter members of the local Masonic Lodge." [ 39 ] published in 1966 by Karl Keller in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 6 In addition to the information provided in the Times and Seasons, John Wycliffe Rigdon states in this short life sketch that the Baptist minister under whom Sidney Rigdon studied "theology" in Pennsylvania belonged to the Regular Baptists. He does not elaborate on his father's stay in Warren but summarizes: "After getting his license to preach, he went to Pittsburgh and preached a short time there and then went to the town of Warren, Trumbull County, in Ohio, and remained there about two years." 7 Of significance here is the report of a short preaching engagement in Pittsburgh after leaving his home church in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and prior to his stay in Warren. This intervening period, not mentioned by any of his biographers, fits well the church record of the Baptist church in Warren, which dates Sidney Rigdon's arrival in Warren on 4 March 1820 and not, as the Times and Seasons and all subsequent historians do, in May of 1819. The entry of 4 March 1820 reads: "Bro. Sidney Rigdon presented his letter of dismission from the Church of Christ called Providence Pa. dated Augt 4th 1819 and Bro. Jacob Smith presented his letter also from the Church of Christ called 3rd Baptist Church of Christ in Middleborough Mass.tts and were both cheerfully received, into full fellowship." 8 Sidney Rigdon, being a licensed minister, may have served for a short time in Pittsburgh under the tutelage of John Davis, Obadiah Newcomb's successor to the pastorate. 9 John Wycliffe Rigdon does not mention for which Baptist church Sidney Rigdon preached, but it was most likely the future First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, the only Regular Baptist church in Pittsburgh proper. If it were the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, the invitation he received in 1822 to become its full-time minister may be understood better historically on the basis of this previous __________ 6 Karl Keller, ed., "'I Never Knew a Time When I Did Not Know Joseph Smith': A Son's Record of the Life and Testimony of Sidney Rigdon," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 1 (Winter 1966): 15-42. The lectures notes of the original lecture are owned by members of the Rigdon family, with a copy located in Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. A further copy is located in the Washington State Historical Society. A larger unpublished "Life" by John Wycliffe Rigdon, deposited in the Church Historian's Office in Salt Lake City, provides no additional information on the Warren period. 7 John Wycliffe Rigdon, Lecture Notes, p. 6; Keller, ed., "A Son's Record of Sidney Rigdon," p. 20. 8 Church Record, Warren Central Christian Church, p. 69. It seems that A. S. Hayden, when writing his Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio, had this record available. For he writes on p. 92: "March 4th [1820], following, Sidney Rigdon was received into membership, and licensed April 1st, to preach." 9 O. Newcomb became minister in 1818 and John Davis in 1820 (cf. Joel van Meter Stratton, "History of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, Pa." [Closing services of the First Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: in the buildings erected 1867 and 1875, Sunday, March 6th, 1910 including the historical discourse. (Pittsburgh: n.p., 1910)], p. 8; see also Redstone Baptist Association Minutes [1818], p. 3, and [1819], p. 3). [ 40 ] acquaintance with the congregation. 10 Besides the common associational affiliation of this church with Rigdon's former church (Peter's Creek), David Philips, the preacher under whom Sidney was said to have begun studying for the ministry, was co-organizer of the First Baptist Church in Pittsburgh. 11 The reason for the discrepancy in dates will perhaps always remain unknown. Granted that the biographical article on Sidney __________ 10 At the time, there were three "Baptist" congregations in the city. Sidney Rigdon's future congregation had been formed in 1812 by the Rev. Edward Jones and six Regular Baptist families from New England. As the church became affiliated with the Redstone Baptist Association, Alexander Campbell -- whose Brush Run church held the same associational membership -- preached there occasionally. An independent group holding Haldane Restitutionist convictions was led by Walter Scott, who had taken the church over from his mentor George Forrester after Forrester had drowned in the Allegheny River in 1820. Since A. Campbell's acquaintance with Walter Scott in the winter of 1821-1822, the two churches exhibited fraternal relations but remained independent. Whether the churches formally united in 1824 is doubtful and cannot be firmly documented. For the history of Baptist origins in Pittsburgh see esp. James A. Trewolla, "A History of the Disciples of Christ in Pittsburgh" (B.S.T. thesis, Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, 1934), pp. 7-45. See also Robert Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell (1897; reprint ed., Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1956), 2:99; cf. also 2:42-48, and Hayden, Early History of the Disciples, p. 64, where, contrary to Richardson's Campbell biography (vol. 2, p. 47), the church for which Sidney Rigdon preached is described as small in size. Cf. also Stratton, "First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh," p. 9. Dwight E. Stevenson's assumption that Sidney Rigdon did not meet Walter Scott until March of 1828 in Warren is clearly mistaken (see Dwight E. Stevenson, Walter Scott, Voice of the Golden Oracle: A Biography [St. Louis: Christian Board of Publication, 1946], p. 91). See also Henry K. Shaw, Buckeye Disciples: A History of the Disciples of Christ in Ohio (St. Louis: Christian Board of Publication, 1952), p. 44. --- From 1815 to 1817 there existed in Pittsburgh also a small congregation under the leadership of Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell's father, who had moved to the city from Cambridge, Ohio, in the fall of 1815 in order to establish a private school. When he applied for association membership for his church in the Redstone Baptist Association in 1816, he was refused membership on doctrinal grounds. After Thomas Campbell's removal from Pittsburgh in the spring of 1817 it merges with yet another congregationally autonomous group, of Haldane persuasion, under the leadership of John Tassey. Samuel Church and John Tassey now presided jointly over the amalgamated congregation. (See Trewolla's "A History of of the Disciples of Christ in Pittsburgh," pp. 7-45 and the helpful map on p. 89. See also Archibald Campbell's sketch in Alexander Campbell's Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell: Together with a Brief Memoir of Mrs. Jane Campbell [Cincinnati: H.S. Bosworth, 1861],pp. 123-25.) The two modern biographies of Thomas Campbell shed no new light on the existence or fate of his Pittsburgh church (See William Herbert Hanna, Thomas Campbell: Seceder and Christian Union Advocate [Cincinnati: The Standard Publishing Company, 1935], pp. 1939-40, and Lester McAllister, Thomas Campbell: Man of the Book [St. Louis: The Bethany Press, 1954], pp. 174-80). --- This is not the place to deal with the Pittsburgh church situation in detail. However, since the literature is little known, the following is a list of Disciple and Baptist literature on the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh: Disciple Literature: Trewolla, "The History of the Christian Churches in the Pittsburgh Area"; Ray Emeson Stahl, "A History of the Central Christian Church of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" (B.D. thesis, School of Religion, Butler University, Indianapolis, 1943); John A. Jayne, "Pittsburgh and the Disciples," Christian Evangelist 23 (1909); 1208; A. Chatley, "Early Reminiscences of the Christian Church in Pittsburgh," Christian Standard (16 October 1909), pp. 1812-15; "Some Noted Pittsburgh Pioneers," Christian Standard (16 October 1909), pp. 1815-16; W.H. Graham, "A Brief History of the First Christian Church Pittsburgh, P.A. (Formerly Allegheny)" (Paper, 1915, located DCHS); Percy A. Davis, "Pittsburgh Church History" (Paper read before the Western Pennsylvania Christian Ministers Assocation, 12 February 1951, located at DCHS); "Brief History: First Christian Church," The Service of Dedication April 5, 1964: The First Christian Church of Pittsburgh, DCHS. Baptist Literature: J.G. Lauderbaugh, The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Fourth Avenue Baptist Church (Pittsburgh: n.p., 1887); Joel van Meter Stratton, History of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Centenary of Organized Baptist Work in and about Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1812-1912) (Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Baptist Assocation, 1913); The First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: n.p., 1925); William Russell Pankey, History of the Churches of the Pittsburgh Baptist Association (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1939). 11 Lauderbaugh, Fourth Avenue Baptist Church, p. 4. [ 41 ] Rigdon in the Times and Seasons, upon which all subsequent historians have relied, was written on the basis of information provided by Elder Rigdon himself, the discrepancies might be due to an oversight on his own part. The question then arises, however, as to why the son, writing nearly fifty years later, was so accurately informed about the Baptist period of his father. The interim ministerial service of Sidney Rigdon in Pittsburgh may have been omitted purposefully in the Times and Seasons article of 1843 in order to avoid playing into the hands of those who had advanced the Spaulding theory on the origin of the Book of Mormon. The theory, advanced by Dr. Philastus Hurlbut and Eber D. Howe, considered Sidney Rigdon responsible for acquainting Joseph Smith with the native American romance of Solomon Spaulding, the alleged source for the Book of Mormon. 12 Rigdon's late arrival in Pittsburgh -- in 1822 instead of 1819 -- features prominently in the apologetics against the Spaulding theory. 13 John Wycliffe Rigdon's lecture, apparently based upon reminiscences of his father, and the __________ 12 For a critical discussion of the theory, see the appendices in Isaac Woodbridge Riley, The Founder of Mormonism: A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, Jr. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1902), pp. 369-95, and Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946), pp. 419-33. --- The recent attempt by Wayne L. Cowdrey, Howard A. David, and Donald R. Scales (Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? [Santa Anna: Vision House, 1977]) to prove once again the Rigdon-Spaulding connection is even to the independent historian entirely unsatisfactory. Excluding from this observation the first two self-contained appendices ("Book of Abraham," pp. 190-96, and "Joseph Smith, Peepstone Gazer," pp. 197-99), the "startling new discovery" relies on probability judgments regarding the identity of handwriting in an unidentified portion of the autograph version of The Book of Mormon and that of Spaulding's handwriting in topically unrelated specimens located at Oberlin College, Ohio. The thesis assuming two different works by Spaulding -- that of Manuscript Story, acquired in 1885 by James H. Fairchild, president of Oberlin College, and Manuscript Found -- is legitimated by the same contradictory and historically distant "testimonies" rejected by Riley and Brodie earlier. The literary impossibility of the Dartmouth graduate Spaulding's having written Manuscript Story does not need to be repeated in light of Riley's researches, researches entirely neglected by the authors of the recent expose. Also, the cloud of witnesses mustered in support of the Rigdon-Spaulding connection consists of sources collected at the height of anti-Mormon feelings in the second half of the nineteenth century and finds no corroboration from earlier testimony. On account of its sensational character and the lack of the most basic scientific conventions, the alleged expose hardly deserves scholarly attention. A book dealing primarily with Sidney Rigdon which does not refer a single time to the only two scholarly biographies available -- those of Daryl Chase and F. Mark McKiernan -- loses its scientific credibility. --- The section pertaining to our topic of investigation, Rigdon's earlier career (pp. 92-94), reveals a similar neglect of primary and secondary literature. As we shall demonstrate, Sidney Rigdon was not ordained "during 1818 or 1819" as the authors claim, but between April and August of 1820. That after his dismissal in 1823 as minister of the First Baptist Church in Pittsburgh he "moved... [from] the Baptists to the Disciples (Campbellites)" is an incorrect assessment of the situation. Until the dissolution of the Mahoning Association in 1830, the Disciples were not a sociologically or theologically sharply profiled group. The reform views of Alexander Campbell were held by Adamson Bentley and Sidney Rigdon at least since their meeting with Campbell in 1821. Besides Bentley and Rigdon, most ministers of the Mahoning Association entertained these reform views without severing ties with the larger Baptist body until 1830. Rigdon's dismissal from Pittsburgh was not an event unrelated to the reform cause but was initiated by the opponents of Campbell in the more conservative Redstone Baptist Association, to which Rigdon's Pittsburgh church belonged. 13 Riley, The Founder of Mormonism, p. 382; see especially The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Independence, Mo.: Herald House, 1967), 1:141; Mark McKiernan, The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness: Sidney Rigdon, Religious Reformer, 1793-1876 (Lawrence, Kans.: Coronodo Press, 1971), p. 38; and Daryl Chase, "Sidney Rigdon: Early Mormon" (M.A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1931), p. 54. [ 42 ] conclusions drawn from the church record in Warren, locate him in Pittsburgh in 1819, three years earlier than the anti-Spaulding writers suggest. If we assume that in order to facilitate the interim charge even previous association of Sidney with Pittsburgh is likely, especially in light of the geographical proximity of Peter's Creek to Pittsburgh, the common Redstone associational affiliation of the church with the Pittsburgh church, as well as the personal contact of Peter's Creek pastor David Philips with the Pittsburgh church, it may have been historically possible -- but unlikely -- that Sidney Rigdon met Solomon Spaulding (who died in 1816) or the printer in whose office Sidney was said to have read the manuscript. However, the time frame still does not establish any link with Joseph Smith, the necessary basis for the Spaulding theory. Also, the Jacob Smith of Middleborough, Massachusetts, who, according to the church record, was jointly received into membership of the Warren church with Sidney Rigdon, is unrelated to Joseph Smith. The new data advanced in the preceding pages in no way support the Spaulding theory; they do provide, however, a possible motive for Rigdon's deletion in the Times and Seasons biography of reference to his first Pittsburgh stay. That such deletions for polemical purposes are not uncommon is attested throughout the history of religions in general and of Christianity in particular. However, our knowledge of Sidney Rigdon's assumed brief stay in Pittsburgh rests chiefly on an interpretation of the church record in Warren in light of his son's testimony and is far from being conclusive. Unfortunately, the early church records burned in the great conflagration of Pittsburgh in 1845 and thus cannot be consulted to settle this point. 14 __________ 14 Mr. Thomas J. Gregory interprets the evidence differently in his forthcoming study on Sidney Rigdon. He assumes the chronology of the Times and Seasons to be correct and believes that Rigdon's move to Warren was necessitated by the resignation of Adamson Bentley, the previous minister. The amelioration of ecclesiastical affairs brought about a reinstitution of the old minister and thus shattered Rigdon's original hopes of becoming minister there. And yet, "for some reason which only be guessed at -- perhaps to study with Bentley -- Rigdon decided to join the Warren Church and was accepted as a member on 4 March 1820" (pp. 4-5). This reconstruction has no verification from the sources. The church record in Warren does not evidence such a motivation on Rigdon's part. It is silent about Sidney Rigdon until his placing membership in March of 1820. Furthermore, it would be psychologically unsound to assume a cordial rapprochement of Rigdon and Bentley in March of 1820 had Rigdon previously hoped to benefit from the church strife. Besides, the time during which Adamson Bentley asked to be released from his "pastoral care" was very short, short enough to make a request of this capable independent congregation for outside ministerial help unlikely. --- Despite my disagreement with Thomas J. Gregory on this issue, his forthcoming study on Sidney Rigdon is on the whole the most thorough treatment yet offered. For its employment of primary sources alone, the study will prove to become a sine qua non for future research on Sidney Rigdon. Thanks are due to Mr. Gregory for providing me with a copy of his research and for suggesting a few more sources for Rigdon's early life. [ 43 ] The early history of Sidney Rigdon emerges as follows: In 1817 he became a member of Peter's Creek Baptist Church. 15 Founded in 1773, Peter's Creek Baptist Church originally belonged to the old Redstone Baptist Association 16 and later, in 1840, to the Pittsburgh Association, whose churches were situated "in different directions around the city, but mostly south and east." 17 The Reverend David Philips, Rigdon's pastor, a native of Wales and the outstanding preacher of the district, had held the longest pastorate in the church's history. Still, during his tenure as minister the former __________ 15 Peter's Creek Baptist Church in Library, Pennsylvania, is still in existence today. Sidney Rigdon's presence there in 1817 is attested by a fragile old sheet of paper, taken from a larger notebook, with the following notation: "A list of Members of the Peter's Creek Regular [sic] Baptist from its organisation [sic] in 1773 to the present time as near as can be assertained [sic] to the present time... 1817 Sidney Rigdon." According to the church's historian, Mrs. Vaughn P. Chapman, the list seems to have been compiled in the late 1880s from older records (personal communication of May 1978). Robert Patterson, "Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon," in History of Washington County, Pennsylvania with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, ed. Boyd Crumrine (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co, 1872), p. 431, gives 31 May 1817 as the date of Rigdon's joining Peter's Creek church. Samuel Williams, minister of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh from 1827 to 1856, reports the following details regarding Rigdon's conversion and stay at Peter's Creek: Sidney Rigdon was reared on a farm about twelve miles from the city of Pittsburgh, situated near to the Peter's Creek Baptist House of worship. He professed to experience a change of heart when a young man, and proposed to join the church under the care of Elder David Philips. But there was so much miracle about his conversion, and so much parade about his profession, that the pious and discerning Pastor, entertained serious doubts at the time in regard to the genuineness of the work. He was received, however, by the church, and baptised by the Pastor, with some fears and doubts upon his mind. Very soon, Diotrephes like, he began to put himself forward and seek the preeminence, and was well nigh supplanting the tried and faithful minister who had reared, and nursed, and fed the church, for a long series of years. So thoroughly convinced was father Philips by this time, that he was not possessed of the spirit of Christ, notwithstanding his miraculous conversion, and flippant speech, that he declared his belief, "that as long as he (Sidney) should live, he would be a curse to the church of Christ!" (S. Williams, Mormonism Exposed [Pittsburgh: n.p., (1842?) ], pp. 1-2; the title is not listed in Chad J. Flake's A Mormon Bibliography: 1830-1930 [Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1978].) Williams's remarks on Rigdon's character may well be anti-Mormon projections into the early life of the apostate. The intensity of anti-Mormon feeling among the Baptists is well illustrated in I. M. Allen's sketch of the Pittsburgh church in The United States Baptist Annual Register and Almanac, 1833 (Philadelphia: T. W. Upstick, 1833), p. 131: "His [John Davis's] successor was Mr. Sidney Rigdon, a superficial, flippant man, who for a season promised some usefulness, but, soon embracing the errors of Alexander Campbell, rent the church in pieces, until only fourteen out of ninety-six members remained on the original ground of their constitution. After prosecuting the work of destruction for two years, Mr. Rigdon was excluded from the connection. He then engaged in the business of destroying churches and propagating Campbellism in the State of Ohio, until he found the book of Mormon to be superior to the Bible for the accomplishment of his favorite object -- the common-stock system. This infatuated man is now deluding the ignorant, and transporting his disciples to the New Jerusalem, where they are starving for the necessaries of life.For a historical sketch of the church, see Pankey, Churches of the Pittsburgh Baptist Association, pp. 3-6. A church history covering the early period, written on the occasion of the church's 125th anniversary, is reprinted in Centenary, pp. 146-49. 16 On the origin and early history of the Redstone Baptist Association, see David Benedict, A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and Other Parts of the World (Boston: By the Author, 1813), 1:598-602. 17 David Benedict, A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and Other Parts of the World (New York: Lewis Colby, 1848), pp. 616-17 (entirely different edition from the one mentioned in footnote 16). [ 44 ] officer in Washington's army and company chief in the War of Independence opposed the Baptist reformers under the leadership of Alexander Campbell and resigned his pastorate in 1824 "by reason of the infirmities of age." 18 Sidney Rigdon may have started his education for the ministry under the Reverend Philips. 19 In 1818 Sidney moved to North Sewickley on the Connoquenessing River, where he studied for the ministry under the Reverend Andrew Clark, at that time minister of the Providence Regular Baptist Church. Rigdon's arrival there is attested in the minutes of the Providence church with these words: "Feb the 27 1819 Church met [and] opened by Singing & prayer 1st Br Clark stands Moderator 2nd received & read a letter of Dismission Br Sidney Rigdon from the Church of Peters Creek and received him on the same." 20 The Providence church belonged to the Beaver Baptist Association, which had been formed in 1810 and which was made up of Regular Baptist churches of the border area of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Andrew Clark, who served the church from 1814 to 1820, had been accepted in 1815 by the Association as an ordained minister. 21 He succeeded Sidney's cousin Thomas Rigdon, an influential preacher of the Association. 22 As there were no Baptist theological institutions on the Western Reserve, Sidney Rigdon served as ministerial apprentice with Andrew Clark, learning whatever he could from the experienced minister. __________ 18 Benedict, General History (1848), p. 617, and Lauderbaugh, 175th Anniversary of Peters Creek Baptist Church: Library, Pa (1773-1948), pp. 22-23. Pankey, Churches of the Pittsburgh Baptist Association, pp. 3-4, has David Philips serve for forty-four years, from 1780 to 1824. The illustrious, and later controversial, man had settled in Library after the War of Independence. Before that, he and his three brothers -- who had come to America in 1758 -- had held commissions in Washington's army, had raised a company, and had been its officers. (Centenary, p. 100.) 19 Keller, ed., "A Son's Record of Sidney Rigdon," p. 20; however, Times and Seasons 4 (1 May 1843): 177 does not affirm this. 20 Providence Minutes, MS, p. 95. 21 The enigmatic resolution regarding Clark's ministerial status reads: "Resolved that the association consider the ordination of Brother Andrew Clark valid; although contrary to the established rules of this body; but as those concerned labored under want of information, the association forebear [sic] to censure" (Beaver Baptist Association Minutes [1815], p. 4). Andrew Clark -- a native of Pennsylvania -- was first licensed to preach by the Unity church in 1813. One of the co-founders of this church (founded in 1808) was Thomas Rigdon (History of the Church of the Beaver Baptist Association: From 1809 to 1860 [Pittsburgh: W. S. Haven, 1860], pp. 10-11). 22 History of the Churches of the Beaver Baptist Association, p. 7; "History of Providence Baptist Church," Beaver Minutes (1913), p. 41. Thomas Rigdon was an influential activist of the Association. He served intermittently as clerk of the Association, participated on many committees, drafted circular letters,and preached the introductory sermons for the Association meetings. Already in 1810, when the first annual meeting was held, Thomas Rigdon is listed as its clerk. At that time he was still a licensed minister of the Regular Baptist Church in New Lisbon, which requested his ordination at the same meeting in 1810 (cf. Beaver Minutes [1810], p. 4). He was ordained on 27 October 1810 with the assistance of Sidney Rigdon's future co-worker in Warren -- Adamson Bentley -- and David Philips (cf. Beaver Minutes [1811], p. 3). Thomas Rigdon served several churches of the Association: Providence (1813-1814), Achor (1816-1818), and Unity (1824ff.) (cf. History of the Churches of the Beaver Baptist Association, pp. 7, 10, 14). He is also listed as minister of the Eliza church in 1818 (Beaver Minutes [1818], p. 3). [ 45 ] Although there was little formal ministerial education at that time, the Association throughout its history searched for an adequate modus docendi. In 1812 the Sharon church collected money for the education of young men entering the ministry, and as early as 1813 the Association raised questions in its annual meeting regarding such education. 23 In 1814 the Association recommended "the friends of the Baptist cause" provide patronage and support for the education of ministers, 24 and in 1815 eighty dollars had been collected for destitute ministerial candidates. 25 In 1816 the Association took concrete measures to provide a more formal framework for educating its future ministers. Following the example of Baptists in the Eastern States, the annual meeting resolved to draft a constitution for a "Baptist Theological Society for the education of pious young men for the Gospel ministry"; and the go ahead was given for soliciting financial support from the churches for the education of young ministers. 26 Included on the committee to draft the constitution for the Baptist Theological Society were Thomas Rigdon and Andrew Clark. For reasons unknown to the public, this resolution was rescinded in 1817, and the rather informal theological and practical apprenticeship was retained. 27 In 1819 when the Association held its annual meeting in New Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio, Sidney Rigdon's name appears for the first time in its minutes. 28 He and John Rigdon, 29 another minister cousin, were invited to seats in the Association and both were part of a committee which drafted the "Circular Letter" that year. At the same meeting Andrew Clark, Adamson Bentley, and another minister were appointed to a committee which was to consider the ordination of Sidney Rigdon, provided the church applied for this ordination. 30 Until this time he had served only as a "licensed" minister. The distinction between an "ordained" and a "licensed" minister was a real one on the American frontier, even though the responsibilities of the "licensed" ministers at times coincided __________ 23 Beaver Minutes (1812), p. 5; Beaver Minutes (1813), pp. 3-4. 24 Beaver Minutes (1814), p. 4. 25 Beaver Minutes (1815), p. 4. 26 Beaver Minutes (1816), pp. 4-6. 27 Beaver Minutes (1817), p. 5. 28 Beaver Minutes (1819), pp. 4-6. 29 Besides Thomas Rigdon, his two brothers John and Charles were Baptist ministers in the Beaver Association (cf. Hayden, Early History of the Disciples, p. 92). All four men -- Sidney, Thomas, John, and Charles Rigdon -- had at one time been members of Peter's Creek church. After the division of the Beaver Baptist Association, Sidney's cousins were active in the Mohican Baptist Association. In his sketch of this association, David Benedict confuses Sidney with John Rigdon (see Benedict, General History [1848], p. 888). 30 Beaver Minutes (1819), p. 6. [ 46 ] with those of the "ordained" ones. William Warren Sweet distinguishes the two types as follows: There were two types of Baptist preachers on the frontier, the "licensed" and the "ordained." Licensing a preacher was the first step in the making of a Baptist preacher after he had been permitted to "exercise his gifts" by vote of the church. These licensed ministers frequently served in much the same way that the "local" or "lay" preachers among the Methodists served. That is they preached more or less at large. Frequently a congregation had several of these licensed preachers in the membership and many a Baptist church on the frontier was first gathered and finally organized by these licensed preachers. Frequently "licensed" preachers were called to take regular charge of congregations, when they were generally ordained. 31 In order to guard against irregular ministers' taking advantage of the frontier churches, 32 the Beaver Baptist Association had retained the power "to see that persons properly qualified, are ordained pastors in the churches, and to prevent them from being imposed [upon] by irregular ministers." 33 However, before Sidney Rigdon was ordained, he may have left for a short interim charge in Pittsburgh. 34 As demonstrated previously from the church record, he arrived in Warren on 4 March 1820. 34 Concord, the Baptist church in Warren, had been formed on 3 September 1803. 36 On 19 May 1810 Adamson Bentley became its minister, and during his tenure he became the most influential preacher of the Association. He and Sidney Rigdon were further destined to become leaders in the introduction of the Baptist reform movement of Alexander Campbell in that area. After his arrival in Warren, Sidney took residence with his future brother-in-law, Adamson Bentley, 37 and shortly therafter, on 1 April, Sidney preached a sermon at the church's "regular monthly meeting." At the same __________ 31 See William Warren Sweet, Religion on the American Frontier: The Baptists 1783-1830 (New York: Henry Holt, 1931), p. 40. For the distinction between the two types of ministers, the "ordained" one and the "licensed" one, see chapter three, "The Frontier Baptist Preacher and the Frontier Baptist Church," pp. 36-57, especially pp.39-41. Note also the information on p. 40, footnote 8, that "a licensed preacher could only preach, while an ordained preacher might also administer the sacraments." See also pp.40-41, footnote 8, for the texts of a "Form of ministerial license" and a "Certificate of Ordination. 32 That such imposition was a problem is attested by the occasional warning issued by the Beaver Association in its minutes, e.g., for 1817, p. 5. 33 "Constitution and Rules of Decorum of the Beaver Baptist Association," Beaver Minutes (1815), p. 10; for the discussion of ordination cf. also the Association's answer to the query of the Bethesda church: "We believe that it is scriptural for one minister in certain cases to ordain another, when he is fully satisfied of his qualifications and have the unanimous request of the church to which he belongs" (Beaver Minutes [1819], pp. 4-5; cf. also Beaver Minutes [1820], p. 5). 34 See fns. 7-11. 35 See fn. 8. 36 For this and the following, see Hayden, Early History of the Disciples, pp. 91-92. 37 For biographical sketches of A. Bentley, see Hayden, Early History of the Disciples, pp. 102-109, and William Baxter, Life of Elder Walter Scott: With Sketches of His Fellow Laborers, William Hayden, Adamson Bentley, John Henry and Others (1874; reprint ed., Nashville: Gospel Advocate, n.d.), pp. 135-39. [ 47 ] time, the church record attests, "Bro Rigdon requested a certificate from the Church stating his standing with us as a Member in fellowship and a lisensed [sic] Minister of the Gospel, which was granted." 38 Also on 29 April he preached to the congregation. 39 It appears that sometime between April and August of 1820 Sidney Rigdon must have been ordained, for when the Beaver Baptist Association held its annual meeting on 24 to 26 August in Connoquenessing it could report: In the 29th article of last year's minutes, there was a committee appointed to set apart, by ordination, the Rev. brethren Joshua Brown and Sidney Rigdon; which committee report that they have ordained the above brethren, according to the appointment of the Association. 40 Close to his ordination date, Sidney was married to Phebe Brook on 12 June 1820. 41 Although Sidney Rigdon was ordained and held residence in Warren, his ministry was that of an evangelist traveling in the Western Reserve, holding evangelistic meetings and preaching for small churches which could not afford a regular minister. John Wycliffe Rigdon writes that while residing in Warren his father had no "particular charge," but rather "whenever a vacancy occurred in the country, he always filled it, and in that way acquired a reputation for being a very eloquent preacher." 42 In the six months after his arrival, Sidney Rigdon and Adamson Bentley baptized in Warren and vicinity "upward of ninety persons." 43 Another event took place during 1820 which would eventually prove significant for the spread of the Baptist reform movement, the future Disciples or Churches of Christ. The Beaver Baptist Association was divided and the newly formed Mahoning Association would become the future seedbed for Alexander Campbell's views. 44 At the annual meeting of the Association in 1819, the committee appointed for dividing the Association reported: "Inasmuch as several churches have requested a division of the association, we reply that we give our free consent; and we recommend to__________ 38 Record, Warren Central Christian Church, p.71. 39 Ibid. 40 Beaver Minutes (1820), p. 4. All the dates given for Rigdon's ordination by modern historians have thus to be revised or rendered more precise. Milton V. Backman considers Sidney Rigdon ordained since 1819; whereas F. Mark McKiernan, following Daryl Chase, places the ordination vaguely between 1819 and 1822 (see Milton V. Backman, "The Quest for a Restoration: The Birth of Mormonism in Ohio," BYU Studies 12 [Summer 1972]:352; McKiernan, The Voice, p. 71; Daryl Chase, "Sidney Rigdon," pp. 12-13). 41 Times and Seasons 4 (1 May 1843): 177. 42 Rigdon, Lecture Notes, p. 6; Keller, ed., "A Son's Record of Sidney Rigdon," p. 20. 43 Beaver Minutes (1820), p. 27. 44 On the Association, its history and that of its individual churches, see History of the Churches of the Beaver Baptist Association: From 1809 to 1860. [ 48 ] divide into three parts, and for general lines we propose the state line between Ohio and Pennsylvania, and another on the Tuscarawas; and the churches wishing for division are at liberty to constitute when they think proper; and the Pennsylvania division will be considered the old association, retaining the name of Beaver Association," and will meet at the same time and place stated in the minutes, and the other divisions will make their own arrangements." 45 It was further voted "that the churches in the middle division of this Association meet at the church Salem by their delegates, on Friday before the 4th Lord's day in October next, as a convention to organize those churches into an association; and that the churches in the Western division, meet by their delegates for the same purpose on the Friday before the 4th Lord's day in June next, in church Eliza." 46 The old Beaver Association met, however, once more from 24 to 26 August 1820, at which time the report of Rigdon's ordination was communicated to the Association, and Sidney was asked with his mentor Bentley and cousin Charles to draft the "Corresponding Letter" for the year. 47 Four days later, on Wednesday, 30 August 1820, the "middle division" of the old Beaver Association met at Salem, where Andrew Clark was now minister, and formed the Mahoning Association, covering the counties of Trumbull, Portage, Mahoning, and some of Columbiana County and consisting of the churches of Warren, New Lisbon, Nelson, Youngstown, Salem, Randolph, Liberty, Mount Hope, Bazetta, and Braceville. 48 The Association adopted as its statement of faith that of the old Beaver Association. 49 Change, however, came quickly when Adamson Bentley and Sidney Rigdon joined the reform camp under Alexander Campbell, who not only opposed the severe Calvinism of the Regular Baptists __________ 45 Beaver Minutes (1819), p. 6. 46 Ibid. The other association formed was the Mohican Baptist association. An activist in this association was Thomas Rigdon. Despite an extensive search, I was able to ascertain only the minutes for 1824-1825. 47 Beaver Minutes (1820), p. 4. The "Corresponding Letter" served as a means of communication between the various Baptist associations. David Benedict the American Baptist historian, describes the origin and development of this practice as follows: "The way in which our people at all distances communicated with each other to the state of their churches and their general affairs, was by means of corresponding letters for this purpose, from one association to another. In process of time, these letters were printed in the minutes of the associations; but when I first began to attend some of the oldest bodies of this kind [early 1800s], they appointed men on the spot to write to all with which they had agreed to correspond; the letters thus formed were sent to them in manuscript.... The next step was to prepare one letter of a general character for all corresponding associations, some of which were in distant States, and to print it in the minutes." (David Benedict, Fifty Years among the Baptists [New York: Sheldon, 1860], p. 87.) 48 Minutes of the Mahoning Baptist Association (1820), pp. 1-2; the minutes can be found as "Appendix C: Minutes of the Mahoning Baptist Association (1820-1827)," in Mary Agnes Smith, "A History of the Mahoning Baptist Association" (M.A. thesis, West Virginia University, Morgantown, 1943), pp. 1-40. 49 Hayden, Early History of the Disciples, p. 29; the full texts of its theological statements are given as appendices A and B in Smith, "A history of the Mahoning Baptist Association." [ 49 ] but also advocated a more emphatic doctrine of faith, repentance, and baptism, as well as the disavowal of the normative character of the Old Testament for "New Testament churches," weekly communion, a radical rejection of all forms of polity and church life not expressly commanded in the scriptures, the weakening of a professional clergy, and a unification scheme among the churches on the basis of the "Bible only." 50 Adamson Bentley had been impressed when reading Campbell's debate with Walker on Baptism. In the summer of 1821 when traveling through Virginia, Brothers Bentley and Rigdon visited Alexander Campbell at Buffaloe (the future Bethany, West Virginia) and after a day and a night's stay both men were won over to reform cause. 51 Later, in 1823 when the opposition from within the Baptists to Campbell's reforming views had grown dangerously and threatened the expulsion of his Brush Run Church from the Redstone Association, he and the newly formed Wellsburg church joined the Mahoning Association. They were thus protected from further persecution while retaining association with the Baptists. However, the logical consequence of Campbell's theological views, to permit in church polity only those designs specifically commanded in holy writ, was self-destructive to the Association and led in 1830 to the abolition of the Mahoning Association altogether. During his stay with Adamson Bentley, Sidney became a successful preacher, only occasionally preaching in his hometown, Warren. 52 From 5 to 6 September 1821, Sidney was a member in the council of the Mahoning Baptist Association, convening that year at Palmyra, Portage County, Ohio. At the meeting, he was asked to __________ 50 Vehicles of Campbell's views during this time, besides his eloquent preaching, were his journal The Christian Baptist (1823-1830) and two well-publicized debates: one on 19 and 20 June 1820 with John Walker, a Seceder Presbyterian minister, on the topic of baptism; the other in May 1823 with the Presbyterian William L. Maccalla, at which time Sidney Rigdon served as secretary. Still the best concise treatment of Campbell's thought in its historical context is provided by Winfred Ernest Garrison in the book coauthored with Alfred T. DeGroot -- The Disciples of Christ: A History (St. Louis: The Bethany Press, 1958). For our period, cf. pp. 162-79, 201-206. For further literature on the movement, consult the bibliographical essay in Lester G. McAllister and William E. Tucker, Journey in Faith: A History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (St. Louis: The Bethany Press, 1975), pp. 463-88. Regarding A. Campbell's differences with and ultimate separation from the Baptists, see his journals The Christian Baptist and The Millennial Harbinger. See also Benjamin Franklin and T. J. Fisher, Debate on Some of the Distinctive Differences between the Reformers and Baptists (Louisville: G. W. Robertson, 1858). Scholarly literature on the subject includes the following studies: Errett Gates, The Early Relation and Separation of the Baptists and Disciples (Chicago: Christian Century, 1904); Leo Ashby, "Influence of Alexander Campbell upon the Separation of Disciples and Baptists" (Ph.D. diss., University of Kentucky, Lexington, 1949); Thomas Elmer Pletcher, "Alexander Campbell's Controversy with the Baptists" (Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, 1955). 51 Cf. the report of the visit in A. Campbell's historical reminiscences in the Millennial Harbinger, 3rd ser., 5 (1848): 523; also reprinted in Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, 2:44-45. 52 There is an entry in the church record of 1 September 1821, on which date Sidney Rigdon preached in Warren; but otherwise he was mainly on the circuit. [ 50 ] become the Association's messenger to the Grand River Association and to write the "Corresponding Letter" for the next year. 53 On 2 December 1821, nearly one-and-a-half years after their marriage, Rigdon's wife Phebe was baptized. The church record of 1 December 1821 reads: Examined Phebe Rigdon in regard to her religious exercise of mind and received her for baptism. Lordsday Dec. 2, Sister Phebe Rigdon was baptised. 54 Alexander Campbell, who in 1821 still had some influence in the Redstone Association, to which the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh belonged, perhaps helped Sidney get a pastorate at this church. 55 Sidney Rigdon left Warren on 5 January 1822. The church record attests Rigdon and his wife's departure with the words: "Bro. Bentley being absent Br. Rigdon was appointed moderator and Bro. B. Austin Clerk (pro tem). Br. S. Rigdon and Phebe his wife requested letters of dismission to the baptist Church at Pittsburgh which was granted." 56 __________ 53 Smith, "a History of the Mahoning Baptist Association, Appendix C." pp. 6-7. The latter task remained unattended because of Rigdon's removal to the Pittsburgh church, which was under the jurisdiction of the Redstone Baptist Association. 54 Record, Warren Central Christian Church, p. 79. 55 Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, 2:46. The First Church of Pittsburgh was founded in 1812. Sidney Rigdon, who succeeded John Davis, was its fourth minister (cf. Benedict, General History [1848], p. 617, and the church histories listed in footnote 10). 56 Record, Warren Central Christian Church, p.79. |
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